The road to marriage equality was fraught with many challenges across the country and at the state and federal levels. But Massachusetts was at the forefront of bringing this right to residents when on May 17, 2004, Malden residents Marcia Kadish and Tanya McCloskey married at Cambridge City Hall, marking the first same-sex marriage in the nation. That day, 77 additional same-sex couples were wed across the state.
This was made possible by the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision of 2003 that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and created “second class citizens,” giving the legislature 180 days to change the law.
Winning national access to marriage equality meant change needed to happen at the federal level. In 1996, President Clinton signed the Defensive of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal recognition of same-sex marriages, into law. In line with evolving views on LGBTQ+ rights, in 2011, the Obama administration’s Justice Department declared that while it would continue to enforce DOMA, it would not defend it in court, citing the unconstitutionality of discrimination based on sexual orientation.
In 2014, diverse appeals court rulings from across the country that both supported and opposed the constitutionality of state bans moved the issue to the Supreme Court. The decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, was brought down on June 26, 2015, making same-sex marriage a national right.
A recent interview with the attorney who argued the case that resulted in the first same-sex marriage in Massachusetts pointed out the benefits to – and harms that befall – same-sex partners and families without legalized marriage. Lacking legal protections, same-sex couples were unable to obtain insurance together, file taxes as a married couple and, as the AIDS pandemic demonstrated, have caregivers’ rights in the event of a spousal health crisis. If children are involved, additional complications can impact the family around pregnancy, adoption and custody without legal marriage protections.
Since the first same-sex marriage in the US, over 32,000 same-sex couples have married in Massachusetts. The Commonwealth provides relevant information on same-sex marriage legal rulings and family resources for LGBTQ+ residents online.
